Bloody & Bruised
by InFieryPeace
Summary: He left. She's waiting for him, he who will be a long time coming... if someone else more sinister doesn't come first. NejiTen/Minor SasuSaku/Minor Swears/Two-Shot
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, so this is a little story that I've been working on for a long while, interspersed with my others. I'm planning on doing a second part for it, no more, 'cause it would be hard to leave it as is. Too much sadness. Which I like, but balanced out. Anyway, I'm really happy with the way this one turned out. I hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: If I happened to own Naruto, Sasuke would still be awesome. Quite simple. And Neji would get more screen time. And Tenten.**

_Crack! _Hear that? That is the sound of my heart dieing a painful death. That is the sound of my love and best friend telling me that he has to leave me. Fly across the country for some unknown reason.

"Do you understand, Tenten?" What a stupid question. No, I didn't. Just to be contrary, though, I nodded.

What was he doing here, anyway, other than killing me? He came to my apartment in the middle of the night, looking like he's been through hell and back, and tells me that he's going.

I figure that I really need to say something now, so I force myself to smile, my best frozen picture smile.

"Really? Wow, I wasn't expecting that. When are you leaving?" I try to keep a form of cheer in my voice, and I think I succeed. He looks at me with those lavender eyes, slightly suspicious, and I almost crack. But I hold true, and his scrutiny stops momentarily.

"Tomorrow morning," My smile falters. In an old fashioned cartoon, hearts in my eyes would have broken. The scrutiny continues. After a little longer, he looks away. "I see," he mutters, to himself. What's that supposed to mean?

"I will talk to you later, Tenten." Of course that's all he has to say.

"Bye Neji." I say as he walks through my door again. It closes, taking with it all of my hope. All I really want to do is either run out there and scream at him, or just fall and sob. I take a couple weak steps toward the door, then collapse against it. I don't have it in me to cry, though. I just sit there, with my back against the door, close my eyes, and die inside.

* * *

I looked up, upon hearing a noise coming from the door above me. The lock was shaking. I glanced at the clock in my kitchen, which was telling me it was 2 am. I must have fallen asleep, since that was a good 3 hours since Neji left. The lock shook again, and my attention switched back to my door. Strange that the person would be doing that, because almost all of my friends knew where the key was hidden.

"Crap! Where does that bitch keep her extra key?" A gruff voice exclaimed. I blanched. Which meant it was someone I don't trust, namely my ex-boyfriend, Kano. I scrambled up, trying to get out before he came in. But of course, luck was against me just then. He found the key. The door burst open. His buff figure showed through, and when I saw his face, I paled even more if possible, and started to tremble. Right now he looked murderous.

Kano was a extremely physical, and violent brute, who long ago decided I was his play toy. Messy relationship, I must say. This also meant whenever he needed someone to hurt, he came here. I had had the locks changed several times, because he always kept my key. He did, on occasion, show some mental capacity.

Even though I was skilled in weaponry, I didn't have anything on me. He knew that. When he saw me trying to escape, he grinned sadistically.

"Ah, there she is. Just as funny as always." with that, he advanced on me.

* * *

Getting out of my car, I looked around the walkway to Tentens' little house. I knew what was happening with Neji, and I figured she would want someone to cry with. She was practically the only one who didn't know what was up.

I walked up my best friend's front porch, then ring the doorbell. No answer. I press again. I know that she probably didn't have a good night last night, but really Tenten! Being a recluse won't solve anything.

Trying again a couple more times, I started to get worried. Even when her old boyfriend would beat her, she never came to the door after more then five minutes. I was starting to feel just a little panicky.

Which wasn't helped when, reinforcing my fears, I go to grab the spare key in the hidden compartment by the door, and it's not there. The door was unlocked, too, which was not Tenten at all. I pushed open the door, all the while wondering what was happening, exactly. The darn door went a little way then stops, hitting some resistance. A frown works its way onto my face, and I push harder, fearing the worst. Eventually I get in, but when I look around, my fears are realized.

Everything is completely trashed, like her bastard of an ex came back. Every so often he would, to take out the anger of his miserable , alcoholic, in-debt existence on poor, defenseless Tenten. He always surprised her, so she always was. He hadn't come back for a while, but that track record was gone now.

I searched around, tip toeing over broken bottles, upturned tables, and scattered knives. Everything was there, just torn apart completely. In fact, the only thing missing was Tenten herself.

Until, that is, I turned around. Then I screamed. Tenten was leaning under the window beside the door, eyes closed. She was surrounded by a pool of blood, her face was completely swollen, with cuts all over her cheeks. Her hair was out of one of it's buns, the other falling out, and a section of it was red with more dried blood. Her body was... in pieces. One of her arms was at an odd angle, with a huge gash down the side. And there were slits all over her wrists. Her legs looked black & blue, literally. Completely bruised, with little cuts, that sparkled, like they had shards of glass in them. I didn't even want to look at the rest of her. I rushed over to her side, sobbing.

My fingers automatically went to her wrist and my ear to he mouth. Medical training is a wonderful thing. She had a fairly strong heartbeat, although it was not what it usually was, and she was breathing. I was too in shock to do much more, so I kept up with the hitching sobs while I looked at her head. A shallow cut that bled a lot, possibly a minor concussion. Nothing fatal.

After I finished making sure she wasn't totally destroyed, I grabbed a random phone from her house, and called 911. Then I called Neji.

"NEJI!" I shrieked into the phone, bursting into tears again.

"Sakura? What's wrong?"he asked, sounding alarmed.

"She- She's just...Tentens just.."

"What!"He was starting to get the gist of things.

"K-Kano... he c-came..." I manged in between sobs. I could practically see the horror on his face in my head. The whole reason he was leaving was to try and track down Kano.

"Okay... Sakura, I want you to wait for the ambulance, and stay with her. Tell them exactly what you found, and I will meet you at the hospital." The line went dead. He was probably fighting to get off the plane. I giggled slightly through my tears. Nothing would keep Neji from getting to Tenten.

'Those poor stewardesses' I thought. Just then, I heard an ambulance. 'Thank God'. I grabbed Tentens wrist again, looking at her, then went to stand outside the door, waving my arms frantically.

"Over here! HURRY!" They did, up to me, and inside the house after me. I turned around and pointed to Tenten, then burst into fresh tears. Their eyes widened slightly at the horror of it all, then the immediately started doing everything I couldn't, moving around her in a flurry.

Meanwhile, I just kept crying, leaning against the door until warm, familiar arms wrapped around my waist. I didn't even have to look, it was my long time boyfriend Sasuke. I just turned around and sobbed into his shoulder.

A couple minutes after Sasuke arrived, a paramedic came over to us. I made to turn around around, but Sasuke wouldn't let go of me.

"Excuse me, Miss. We are ready to go, would you like to come in the ambulance with us?"

I nodded, and Sasuke asked if he could come as well. The lady shook her head, and said there was only enough room for one other, in the state Tenten's in. If he could follow in a separate vehicle? He nodded, and we followed the people out, after Tenten on a stretcher. I turned around and locked her door, then ran up to the ambulance and climbed in, smiling weakly at Sasuke.

* * *

Flipping my phone shut, I stood up furiously, grabbed down my bag from the overhead racks, and proceeded to make my way to the front of the plane. Thankfully, they were just closing the door, so I didn't have to do anything but say "Excuse me, something just came up. I need to get off this plane." I was ready to fight my way off.

The stewardess nodded, although looking curious.

"Of course, sir." That made things a heck of a lot easier.

* * *

Sakura had fallen into an uneasy sleep, laying on me. I was simply left to sit there as the clock directly facing me as it ticked by, and I waited. I was waiting for a nurse to come, and say that one of my best friends had survived her emergency surgery. I was waiting for that same friends'... something to come flying into the lobby, as fast as any cab driver in this whole country could bring him. But he probably won't arrive for another couple hours, considering how far away he was. After all, he had just landed from a connection flight, a province away.

"Sir?" I looked up. "Is Ms. Sakura awake? Ms. Tenten would like to see her. She just came out of anesthesia,"

"She will be." I quickly replied, relief flooding through me like a tidal wave. For Neji, Sakura, and Tenten. Tenten and I had become good friends over the years I was dating Sakura, which meant by extension that I spent a lot of time around Neji. We had learned to stand/ understand each other.

Shaking my shoulder a little bit, to rouse Sakura, I watched the nurse watch quietly, before looking back to my girlfriend.

"Nnnn, Sasuke, go away..." She mumbled. She always was a deep sleeper who did not like to get up.

"Sakura, Tenten's up. She's asking for you." I whispered into her ear. Then there was a blunt pain in my chin, where Sakura had jolted her head up frantically.

"Really! Where?" She saw the nurse. She didn't even register that my chin happened to be quite hard, thank you very much. "Take us to her, please!"

The nurse nodded and started leading her away, she jumping to her feet and dragging me with her. Not like I was reluctant, of course, but I wasn't quite that fast.

As we followed the nurse down the hall, Sakura looked up and asked me, "Where is Neji? I thought he'd have been here by now."

I thought for a moment, then answered "When I called him earlier, he was in Saskatchewan. Regina." Her face was kind of impatient, and surprised.

"That far away? He must have left earlier than we thought."

"Apparently. By now, though he's probably over Alberta somewhere, since he was just boarding when we talked." I told her, as we turned into a room just behind a nurses station. The lady who took us to her walked over to the bed, looked at the monitor hooked up to her, scratched something on a notepad, then left.

Sakura was already beside her bed, kneeling down. Tenten turned from the window beside her, than smiled at Sakura.

"Where have you been?" She asked, despite being covered in bandages and tubes. The only thing about her that wasn't covered was her face, and even that had little bandages all over it.

Sakura looked affronted. "In the waiting room, this whole time!"

"Sleeping," I chimed in. Tenten seemed to notice my presence then.

"Hey! Sasuke's here too!"

"Of course. Where else would I be, with the pinkette over there so wound up?" I asked, smirking.

Tenten laughed. "Good point." Her face fell from it's smile, just a bit. "So what happened?" She asked in her usual blunt style. Never was one for beating around the bush. "All I remember was Kano coming in a couple hours after Neji left..." She trailed off. Anyone could see her sorrow.

"He hurt you, a lot. Some broken bones, some other crap that needed surgery, a concussion." Sakura spat "And he just appeared under our noses. We had a special task force looking for him in Toronto." She wouldn't mention that 'task force' was Neji, with all his fighting experience. That was his tale to tell.

I walked over to lean against the wall beside the bed. I was examining my shoes, waiting for the silence to break, until it did. With Tenten sighing. What she said next surprised me, though.

"Oh, you too? I was thinking this might happen, so I looked Kano up as well. Guess he caught me of guard." She sighed again. "It was a bad night."

"Thats an understatement." Sakura said sadly. All that work on Neji's part, and it backfires right when he thought he had the bastard.

"You guys know, right? Neji left?"

"Yeah" I sighed. "Bit of a bad time, don't you think?" Both her and Sakura nodded, but on Tenten's face I saw the signs of a breakdown. Sakura did too, and motioned for me to leave. I immediately followed her command, knowing the pain to follow if I didn't, and happened to witness the sobbing that's sure to come. I stepped out into the hall tactfully, then started towards the lobby.

Pulling out my cellphone as I went, I dialed Neji's number. Went straight to voice mail. Probably on a plane.

"Where are you? She needs you to come back, really fast, Neji. Really fast."

* * *

"Excuse me, I am putting on the seatbelt signs for landing. Please return all seats to an upright position, take all non-ear bud type headphones out, and return the tray tables to their locked position. Thank you, and we hope you have a nice evening, whether Victoria is your destination, or wherever your final destination be."

The intercom of the airplane shut of as the plane gently bumped to the ground. My foot started tapping impatiently. Didn't they realize I had a place to be? No, they didn't, but still. Luckily for the passengers in front of me, their were none, as I was in the front row aisle seat, and up with my bag as soon as the door opened.

A startled flight attendant looked at me, a touch of admiration in her eyes, as well as surprise of my hurry. To be honest, I really didn't care, I had another girl on my mind.

When I got out to the gate, I immediately reached into my pocket and flipped up my phone. First I called for the chauffeur waiting for me, then I looked at it. There was a flashing "missed call' sign, plus the little icon for a message left. I frowned. Who could that be?

Pressing necessary buttons, I set it against my ear and listened. Sasuke's voice came over, in a sort of hushed tone. '_Where are you?She needs you to come back, really fast, Neji. Really fast.'_

I blanched. There was only one 'she' to talk about. Tenten. The woman I had loved for several years of our almost decade long acquaintance. Last I saw of her, she was watching me leave, with a broken look in her eyes. Being the not-so-expressive person I was, I'm pretty sure that it was my own silence and tendency for one word answers that ended up breaking me by extension as well.

My feet continued walking, hopefully in the right direction, but my mind was very much elsewhere. I was thinking about the first time that we met. I despised her that first day. Too strong. Then my mind flashed to, when, a couple years ago, I figured out I loved her. Then, the very next week, she told me about the guy she had met. Tenten wasn't the type to go out with many guys, so that was a surprise. Bit of a painful one, although it was against my nature to show much of it. I think she noticed something was up, as she has some sort of strange ability to read me, probably the only one in the world, but didn't question it much. Then we find out how bad that boy of hers really was. Is.

I came back into the world after walking into a pole. Not much of a good move, considering the fact that I am a Hyuuga, and Hyuuga's have their pride and composure to attend to. Mine was currently severely ruffled, I determined, after seeing the looks I was getting. A smart looking hot guy in a suit walking into a pole? Not good.

Continuing on, I saw my personal limo come up beside me. The driver quickly stopped and hopped out, seeing me, and opened the door so I could climb in the spacious, luxurious back.

"Did you have a good flight, sir?"

"Hn. To the Royal Jubilee Hospital. As fast as possible."

"Yes, sir." He said, closing the door and getting into the drivers seat, completely used to my Hyuuga attitude, then pulled out into the busy lane of traffic.

* * *

I woke up in an unfamiliar bed, in a room with starch white walls and an unpleasant white light coming in from the hallway. I guessed that it was sometime late at night, because the outside world was dark. Sitting, up, or trying to, was excruciatingly painful, I discovered by experimentation. So I contented myself to moving my head as much as it would with the hulking wrappings surrounding it, and straining my peripheral vision. I really didn't like this whole 'bandaged so much that I can't move' thing, it made my defenses useless.

Looking around the boring room, I saw a chair not far from my bedside, with two people in it. Smiling slightly, I looked at how Sasuke and Sakura were sleeping. Sasuke was actually in the chair, with his arms holding Sakura in a loose bridal style, while she was stretched across both of them sideways, her legs over the side of the chair. Her head was nestled in his neck, and his head was leaning on hers. It was so cute!

Just then, my stomach started to cramp, and it got hard to breath. I wasn't entirely sure what was happening, but it went away in a few moments. Suddenly I felt very tired, even though I'd slept most of the day away after Sakura and my little chat. Most of said sleep was an attempt to stop both my body, which throbbed painfully all over, from hurting. But I will admit that some of it was to hide the disappointment. I was extremely depressed when Neji didn't come. I'd have thought he'd be here by now, if the reason he left wasn't my worst fears. That he would simply leave me behind and not come back. 'Guess that was the reason' I thought, as a stray tear slipped down my cheek. He was not only the one I loved, but probably my most important friend and confidant. He always stood up for me, when I couldn't, and I for him. We had each others backs. 'I thought...' as I slipped into the safe, painless darkness of sleep.

It was about 2 in the morning when I arrived at the hospital. The visiting hours were long over, so it was no surprise when the nurse and guard at the desk looked at me warily. Stumbling around like your drunk (or extremely tired) doesn't help, though.

I made my way to the desk, looking at them with what I hoped was a 'I am above you, so you must let me in' type of gaze.

"I am here for someone named Tenten. No last name." I said, in as dignified, high-and-mighty voice I could muster in my current state.

"I'm sorry, sir, but the visiting hours have ended, um, 7 hours ago." The nurse said, a slightly wary tone to her voice. The guard to was also sizing me up, stealthily moving around the desk to tackle me, I would assume. I looked at him coolly.

"I can see what you're doing." I looked back at the nurse, "No, I am not drunk, nor high, nor do I have a gun, and I perfectly understand when the visiting hours closed." The both froze, looking at me surprised-like. "I have a very close friend here in critical condition, and would like to be let by. If you like, I'm sure that she has some people with her who would tell you that I must be let in." The nurse started fumbling around at her computer, somewhat scared by my tone of voice, I could tell.

"Um, then, what is your name, sir? If you are to be let in, it would be on my database for off-hours visitors." I simply held up my I.D. No need to say anything. The nurse and guard both looked at it, up at me, down to the computer, then both their eyes widened.

"Well, sir, if you could please follow me..." The nurse trailed off, coughing gently, before getting up from her seat awkwardly. I nodded, as I knew the influence that my name has on people. And how fervently Sakura would have made sure that I could get in. A powerful combination, since she was one of the rather high-ups here.

The nurse led me to a set of double doors, swiped a card, then led me through. Straight into another set. This must be a sensitive area, if there's that much security. My eyes narrowed, thinking about just how bad Tenten was injured. My question was, of course, answered when the nurse stopped out side a door, took down a file, and turned to me.

"Sir, due to the gravity of the situation, I am required to brief you on Miss Tenten's injuries. She lost enough blood to make her go unconscious, which has been slowly replaced with transfusions throughout the day. She got a relatively bad concussion, and as a result is having very minor memory lapses. Things like how to write a cursive 'k'. One arm was broken, and an ankle, she had deep lacerations all throughout her body. On her legs, glass shards were found throughout the wounds. She suffered internal bleeding, enough that she needed emergency surgery to repair it. She is liable to lapse into a seizure or a coma at any point right now." The nurse said, gravely. I was in shock. Was it really that bad? All of it? That bastard was going to pay...

"You need to be very careful that when she is awake, she doesn't move to much, or that she doesn't become too stimulated. Extremely emotional, otherwise. Please be careful." She added, stepping back from the door. I automatically went in, closing the door softly behind me. The three denizens of the room were fast asleep, leaving the room eerily quiet. I looked at Tenten, who was practically covered head to toe in bandages. Almost instantly, I was at her side. She looked so peaceful, yet so in pain.

Her hair was down, washed out, and brushed, probably by Sakura. I can see her enjoying doing that. Either way, Tenten had gorgeous hair.

Suddenly, it hit me: What am I thinking? She is the only one in the world to have such a profound affect on me that I start thinking like an infatuated high school boy. It was almost scary. I can't help it, though, I grab a chair and drag it over to her bedside, before sitting down and realizing how tired I am. I reached over to her window sill, across her bed, and put a small piece of paper that I 'decorated' on the airplane onto it. Then I grabbed a chair, pulled it to her bedside, took her hand, and keeled over so my face was on her bed, before falling asleep soundly.

* * *

Shuffling noises. Like someone trying to escape through a door, without waking someone, like me, up. Whoever it was was failing miserably. I blinked my eyes open, just to see Sasuke's back retreating through the open door, before it closed. With my very little head mobility, I looked around. It was the real morning, now, versus when I woke up late at night last night. As attested to by the bright sunshine filtering in through the unopened blinds, one ray illuminating a mysterious white card on the sill. It had a plain black handwriting, similar to...who's? It's really familiar.

I kept moving my head the quarter turns it could, looking out the window, to see as much as I could of the outside world, before noticing a steady pressure on my hand. It had been there since I woke up, but I just noticed the warmth that was also being infused into it subsequently. It was really nice. I basked in it for a moment before deciding to find out what it was. the necessary neck movements were made, each hurting in its own way, until my hand was in my direct vision. Only my hand wasn't there. Instead, it was a larger, more masculine hand that enveloped mine. It attached to an arm, which I followed with my eyes. That, according to basic human anatomy, attached to a shoulder, which attached to neck & head with a shock of long, flowing dark hair that was more familiar than that handwriting. And suddenly my memory came back. Neji.

I half gasped, half stuttered out "N-Neji?" Which the head that was resting beside me responded to by twitching slightly, which made me giggle, before I stopped. "I thought you weren't going to come." I said slightly more quietly. Apparently he heard me. Whatever was happening in that head of his (which I have absolutely no idea what) stopped immediately, because he sat bolt upright, fully awake, when he was only a second before in the deepest slumber I've ever seen him in.

"_Why _would you think that?" He asked forcefully, his gaze so intense I had to look away.

"You left, you took a really long time to get here..." I mumbled while trailing off, the hurt inside still hurting.

It was his turn to look away. "I made a miscalculation," He said in his most Neji-like tone.

"And what would that be?" I asked.

"I thought that Kano was in Ottawa. So I went to get him put in jail."

I could not speak. I just gaped a him. He left, to help me? By practically breaking me? Was that what I just heard?

"Tenten?" He asked, a little worry shining through in his eyes when I just sat there staring at him.

"Y-You went, to Ottawa-"

"I didn't make it there. As soon as Sakura called me, I turned around."

"OK. You went in the direction of Ottawa," He nodded, "to find Kano, and stop him from coming after me?" I finished slowly. I'm sure I was blushing, just a bit. No matter how close we were, I never thought that he would go as far as that.

"Yes." he said simply, while his eyes were looking at me, into my very essence, trying to get me to piece something together. Sending a message. I just stared back. Caught in the mesmerizing eyes that were begging me to understand.

I'm sure my eyes were sending a message of their own. 'I love you'. I was thinking, so desperately, if only he could figure it out-

"I love you, Tenten." It was soft, gentle, but most definitely there. I stared back, startled anew.

"I-I," I was suddenly having trouble with my words. I wanted so awfully much to reply in kind, but my head started to pound. I felt myself falling back, onto the mattress, not knowing that I had sat up. My eyes were closing of their own accord. Around me, alarms started to go off, and I could hear footsteps coming in. A hand still gripped mine, strong enough to give me strength. Focusing on that steady pressure, I forced my eyes open. "I love you." I whispered, looking into his panic stricken eyes, before feeling my body jolt beneath me. Then nothing. Silence.

**A/N: There you have it folks. Please review and tell me what you think. Also, my other Naruto story probably won't be updated for a while as I feel myself moving on to Bleach. Please be patient with me, I have cycles. Also, tell me if you think I should have another part to this, because then I can start working on it and not leave you hanging for moths. FYI, you'll probably get one anyway, but still. Review People! Please And Thank you!**


	2. Let Down Notice

Hey people! So, I absolutely hate it when people do this (Author's Note chapter), especially to say what I am going to, but I feel that I have very little choice. So here's my list of excuses:

School.

I feel that this site is taking over my life and I don't like it.

My message is that I am trying to quit the majority of my time spent on (I feel like an addict). Therefore, since I have quite a few stories going, none of which I have finished or even updated in a while, I have decided to finish one of them. I don't care which one. So, what I'm asking my readers, which I know I don't have many of, or even if you all care enough to respond. But please go to my profile and choose which story you would like me to finish. I'll put up a poll.

I'm so, so sorry because I feel like a terrible let-down. But I also think I need to do this so please don't hate me. Maybe, someday, in a long time, I'll start over but I don't think so right now. Thank you for your support.


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